Monday, May 6, 2013

Ireland for St. Patrick's Day!


I’m only abroad once… So I thought why not go to Ireland for St. Patrick’s day?! I found really cheap flights and my friend is studying there so it worked out perfectly! I am so glad that I went because it was one of my favorite countries I visited! I love the city, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just need to be in nature and have some space! This is exactly what Ireland gave me and it was amazing!

I flew into Dublin by myself on Thursday, took the city bus to my hostel where I met up with my friend who is studying in Cork.  I didn’t get to the hostel until after mid night, but it was St. Patrick’s day weekend in Dublin, so of course we had to go out! We went to a pub pretty close to our hostel and I can only say one thing… Holy non-Irish people!! I think everyone who does not live in Ireland goes to Dublin for St. Patrick’s day, but it was a really funny environment to observe because we only had one pint and everyone else definitely had far more than that!! 


How I was greeted at the airport in Dublin! 


Blurry but that’s what all of the streets looked like! 

The next morning my friend and I went on a free walking tour and learned a lot about Dublins history. 



Dublin’s castle



Trinity College in Dublin


My friend Colleen and I in a park at the end of the tour!

After the tour learning about Dublins history… we went on a little different kind of tour.  A beer tour—a tour of the Guinness factory! 



We learned how they make Guinness and then we learned how to pour “the perfect pint of Guinness!” we even got certificates! Haha! 




Colleen and I enjoying our pints! 



After finishing our pints we went up to the 360 bar upstairs! It a room where you can see all of Dublin! Many famous people or celebrities have been there, such as Obama! 


Here’s another picture of locks with a pretty sunset behind it! 

After the sunset we caught a bus from Dublin to Cork where Colleen, my friend, is studying! We met up with some of my other friends studying in London that flew into Cork later on Friday.  On Saturday morning I went on a Paddywagon bus tour to the cliffs of moher! The bus driver said we had some of the best weather of the year to go so I was feeling pretty blessed, and wow was he right! We stopped at a lot of cool sites along the way to the cliffs of moher, which is on the northwestern potion of Ireland and Cork is in the south! 




King John’s Castle 


After not seeing any colors in London I was very excited to see flowers!



This is a megalithic tomb, which was built during the Neolithic Age or New Stone Age.  The earliest of these types of tombs were built in the fourth millennium BC.  



Cliffs of Moher!









"My spot" that I sat at for a while and just watched the waves crash as the sun warmed my face and I just took in exactly where I was.  A very cool moment!


I was terrified...!

Here are pictures of Cork! It was a very cute city! 


Finally, Sunday… St. Patrick’s Day! It was really cool being in Cork for St. Patrick’s Day because it was all Irish people not tourists! (Besides us… haha) We had an all green breakfast! We died all of the food green it was a ton of fun! Then we went to the parade! It was crazy! On St. Patrick’s Street, how fitting!